15 wedding flower mistakes to avoid
The Knot asked top wedding florists from around the country for the most common mistakes brides make — here’s what your florist wishes you knew.
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Posts Tagged ‘Flower’
15 wedding flower mistakes to avoid
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Wedding Flower Centerpieces Using Pink Wedding Flowers
Sunday, August 29th, 2010
Wedding flower arrangements vary in price and when you are on a budget, it is important to think about what types of flowers to use for your wedding as well as the quantity of flowers in each flower arrangement.
When thinking about what type of wedding flower centerpieces you would like to have at your wedding, try and coordinate the colors of your wedding with your wedding flower arrangements. One simple inexpensive flower arrangement using pink wedding flowers is a table centerpiece using a pink cymbidium orchid and submerging it in water with votive candles and pink rose petals surrounding it.
It is an inexpensive way to create an elegant look on your table and you can make these type of wedding flower centerpieces on your own. Plus you can reuse the vase, rocks and votive candle holders again for other events you may throw after your wedding.
Using all pink wedding flowers as your centerpieces gives you the options to use pink hydrangeas or pink roses. It is less expensive to use all pink hydrangeas for flower arrangements because they are larger and use more room in the vase as oppose to pink roses. An added bonus using hydrangeas for your wedding flower arrangement is that the flower itself dries so beautifully and you can make pretty wreaths with the dried flowers as another reminder of your special day.
Add some color to your pink flowers by wrapping the inside of the glass container with a tea leaf or other such greenery. Another idea for your wedding flowers is to place some contrasting colored rose petals around the vase. If you are considering an evening wedding, add votive candles to create a romantic soft look to your wedding decor.
Another idea for your wedding flower arrangements is to use succulent flowers and intersperse them with pink flowers such as cymbidium orchids or roses. What is great about using succulents is that you can then keep the plant after the wedding and have a living reminder of your special day. Either replant the succulents in bigger pots or your backyard if you have one and watch your wedding reminder continue to flourish and grow as your marriage does!
I hope you picked up some ideas for wedding flower centerpieces using pink wedding flowers. You can keep your costs down with your wedding flower arrangements by using simple floral decor such as all hydrangeas or submerge cymbidium orchids and surround the wedding flower arrangement with rose petals and votive candles. In addition to weddings, these type of simple inexpensive arrangements can be used for weddings or social events.
Until next time, remember make it simple, delicious, stylish, fun and economical for all!
With over 15 years in the special event industry, Andrea has now taken her knowledge and experiences and incorporated this information into an easy-to-read book called Budget Bash – Simply Fabulous Events on a Budget. You can talk to Andrea via Twitter @awynningevent or learn more about wedding and special event management by visiting awynningevent.com.
Wedding Flower Checklist
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
You think you’ve thought of everything, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Weddings, although they’re meant to be joyous, can often be very stressful. Here’s some advice: make checklists. Although it may seem a tad ‘corny,’ a wedding checklist can provide you with peace of mind. You won’t have to wonder if everything’s been taken care of. You’ll be able to use each checklist as a confirmation.
One of the most important wedding checklists is a wedding flower checklist. Consider your bouquets. Make sure you have the following bouquets: Brides bouquet, bride’s toss-away bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, Maid of Honor’s bouquet, and the flower girl’s bouquet or floral basket. While this may sound like a lot to consider AND arrange, we’ve only just begun!
Corsages are required for the bride’s mother, the groom’s mother, and the grandmothers of both the bride and groom. Well the ladies are taken care of, but what about the men? Do all the gentlemen have a boutonniere? It’s tradition for the groom, the groom’s best man, the ushers, ring bearer, the fathers (of the bride and groom), and both grandfathers to wear floral boutonniere’s to the wedding ceremony. Typically, the colors of these flowers coincide with the corsages worn by the ladies.
Finally, everyone in your immediate family and wedding party should have some sort of floral arrangement. Once you’ve confirmed that with your checklist, you can begin planning and confirming your floral decorations and centerpieces for the wedding.
Start at the beginning: the rehearsal dinner. You’ll most likely want a floral centerpiece for the table. If it’s an extended table with many family members, you may want to consider two centerpieces. Presentation is everything. Next, you’ll want to make sure that you have all of the flowers for your wedding reception. Some things to consider are: the head table centerpiece, gift table centerpiece, buffet table centerpiece, and bar centerpiece.
You may also want to place a floral arrangement on the table that informs guests of their seating arrangements. In addition, some floral ideas such as aisle runners and floral headpieces can be considered. Believe it or not, many couples give ‘thank you’ floral arrangements to their parents and out-of-town guests. It’s become a very modern tradition that has been embraced by many young couples. Most importantly, don’t forget to write down the number of centerpieces you will need to make a gorgeous impression.
Jen Carter is owner of My Wedding Blog, a free wedding planner about weddings. The above article is found in our wedding flowers category.
Rosemarie Schulz Flower Decorations – wedding ideas and ideas for home decorations
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Flower arrangements add beauty and harmony to any room. Rosemarie Schulz from Heidelberg Germany www.rosemarie-schulz.de is creating since 1974 a large range of flower ideas such as placemats, flower bouquets, wedding bouquets, scented sachets, fashion umbrellas for woman with flower patterns…
Golden Urn Flower Wedding Cake
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Garden roses, ranunculus (buttercups), and hydrangeas decorate this 5 tier wedding cake. Ivory lace pattern highlights the top tier to match mother’s mantilla and a gold urn with multiple sugar flowers sits atop the top tier. Gold rope detail wraps around each tier and floral sugar flowers separates the 3rd and 4th tiers. More at blog.pinkcakebox.com
Flower Girl Baskets and Wedding Accessories That Coordinate with Your Wedding Colors
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
No matter what color you select for your wedding, it will definitely set a tone. There’s not much color to black and white, but imagining a black-and-white wedding brings to mind a crisp, elegant event. Think how much more invigorating the celebration could be with lime green, coral or any other color under the rainbow.
Part of your decision will hinge on the time of year your nuptials are taking place. That’s not to say that all brides married in October and November have to use the colors of fall leaves, but they can be a natural choice. If it’s a December wedding, variations of red are entirely appropriate – and probably a better choice than for a June wedding. A spring wedding is the time to break out some spring colors like aqua and pink. A summer wedding? Try something tropical like orange, orchid or coral.
Of course the location of the wedding can also influence your choice. If you’re having a destination wedding in some tropical resort, then you definitely want one or two bright colors. If you’re having the event in a hotel ballroom, then consider it a blank palette that you can paint any color you want.
It’s not just a matter of choosing a color. You must also get into the hues or variations of the shades. There are traditional color families and more modern palettes. Either is fine. This is purely a matter of personal preferences. The traditional choice might like a nice cornflower blue set off by a soft yellow. The more modern alternative might be aqua and lime green. The traditional choice might be elegant soft pink and champagne beige; the modern alternative could be fuchsia and orange.
Once you think you have identified a palette, then you need to see how the color or colors can be employed. Where will your swatches of color come into your wedding, your reception, your invitation and even your flowers? Note: If you want to include certain flowers, make sure they will be in season or at least available at the time of your wedding.
Of course you’ll want to incorporate your colors into the gowns of the bridesmaids, but you can also consider a touch of one color on your own dress – perhaps a ribbon sash around your waist. You can also introduce a second color on the bridesmaids’ attire with their gloves or their shoes.
And don’t leave the men out. The groom and his groomsmen can add a touch of color on their ties, vests or cummerbunds. It will be a welcome break of color for a wedding party all clad in black tuxedos.
But don’t stop there. Today’s accessories are made with your personal colors in mind. If there’s a flower girl in your wedding, then look for a basket where the color can be featured. The baskets themselves are usually ivory or white, but a boldly colored ribbon could be a nice way to tie in your wedding theme. If you have a little ring bearer, look for a pillow encircled by a ribbon of color. You can even get a guestbook and pen set with a ribbon of color on it.
The first sense of your colors your guests will see comes in the invitation. You can introduce it to them with something as simple as a colored ribbon tied around the invitation itself. Or you can go into full bloom and use your color for the stationary itself. Invitations are available on cardstock in shades of blue, pink, green and yellow, just to name a few.
Of course the reception will offer plenty of uses for your color theme. Tablecloths, napkins and centerpieces are available in a host of colors. The reception might also be the place to introduce secondary colors. After all, a group of green-clad bridesmaids, sitting at a table with a green tablecloth, definitely needs another color to break up all that green. Maybe soft yellow placemats or napkins will be a nice complement.
Or you could introduce table favors in another color. Favors can include small baskets or boxes of mints or candied almonds, which are available in a variety of colors. The favor might also be a votive candle, available in an equal an array of colors.
And, of course, you’ll want to feature your color in flowers. Of course roses come in everything from peach to yellow to purple. There are also a host of other colors available in the form of calla lilies, peonies, lavender, hydrangeas, irises, zinnias, magnolias, gardenias, mums and even sunflowers!
Just as nature is not limited to one or two colors, neither are today’s brides. If you don’t know where to begin, consider visiting a hardware store or someplace that sells paint. Pick up sample cards of the colors you’re considering. Take them home and see what you think after a week or so. A hardware store may not sound like a romantic place to plan your wedding, but it’s a great place to start!
Dena Merlino is a freelance writer who writes about a variety of topics including wedding accessories.
Mud Pie Wedding Something Blue Photo Frame, Flower Girl
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
- Two-tone faux patent leather frame
- Features a dimensional flower and Flower Girl grosgrain ribbon
- Frame is 7-inch by 7-1/2-inch
- Holds a 4-inch by 6-inch photo
- Makes a special gift the Flower Girl will remember forever
Product Description
Mud Pie’s Something Blue wedding collection puts a new twist on traditional wedding gifts and favors. With patent leather panache and colors of blue and white and black and white, Something Blue’s fun and practical items are the must-haves for today’s bridal party.
Jordan Almond Flower Wedding Favors
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
How to make Jordan Almond Flowers from www.jordanalmondflowers.com Distributed by Tubemogul.
Silk White Artificial Flower Decoration Wedding Centerpiece
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
- Lovely White Flower Decoration
- Comes Complete with Base
- Measures 20″ High
- Great for a Household Decoration
- Perfect for a Wedding Table Centerpiece
Product Description
Great for a Home Decoration or Wedding.
Silk Or Real? Your Wedding Flower Questions Put To Rest — At Last
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
Silk or real; what’s a bride to do? For many brides, the question is really perplexing — especially for those who want to mix a dash of “Do-It-Yourself” into their wedding flower preparations.
Obviously, silk comes with some advantages — it’s tough and shelf stable, and the petals won’t come off at the worst possible moment. On the other hand, silk flowers don’t always look real, and they aren’t always a bargain, either.
The fact is, the silk versus real dilemma is more confusing than ever, thanks in part due to the increasing sophistication — and accompanying cost — of silk and latex flowers. To navigate this new terrain, we interviewed Paul Ajao, a professional florist and cofounder of Pure Botanics, a UK-based floral designer who specializes in weddings.
You keep hearing that silk flowers have gotten “better and better.” Yet when you go to the local craft store, they look just about as artificial as ever. Where are these super-realistic flowers, and how can a bride get her hands on them?
It’s true that artificial flowers have improved. But the quality varies widely from brand to brand. In addition to craft stores, take a look at which brands your local florists are using. After all, their reputation depends on delivering a beautiful result. Also, they might be able to order in artificial flowers for you — ones that you can’t get in the craft
stores.
One brand with a great reputation that florists use regularly is Sia, which you can find in the UK, US and Australia.
Is it true that artificial flowers photograph poorly? And does that include the high-end latex type?
When you take close-ups of artificial flowers, yes, it can be pretty obvious that the flowers aren’t real. But this depends a lot on the quality of the artificial flowers you’ve used.
Remember that any shiny surfaces may cause the camera flash to “bounce,” which looks pretty unnatural for flowers. The common off-the-shelf flowers can be pretty shiny.
One argument for silk flowers is that fresh flowers are seasonal, but some florists are suggesting that season isn’t so important these days — that almost everything can be imported all year round. Are you finding this to be true?
Well, some of the most common cut flowers, such as roses, gerberas (gerber daisies) and orchids, are available all year round. So you don’t have to worry about seasonality with these flowers.
But others, like peonies, lily of the valley and ranunculus, have a definite season. Expect to pay more if you buy out of season. And the quality may not be as good.
Just to illustrate how important season can be: a florist we know planned her whole wedding around the very brief time in spring when lily of the valley was in season, so she could use fresh!
What’s your personal feelings on silk vs. artificial flowers? As a professional florist, would you mix them in arrangements — for example, use silk for the super-pricy flowers like calla lilies or orchids?
Personally, we love working with real flowers. But it’s true that silk definitely comes with some advantages. For starters:
- They won’t wilt.
- They’re a lasting memento of your big day.
- They’re easy to transport if you’re getting married abroad.
- You can prepare them long in advance.
The last point’s important if you’re preparing flowers yourself. By their nature, you have to arrange fresh flowers the day before the wedding at the earliest — and usually the morning of. This doesn’t leave you much time to switch gears if you aren’t happy with the results. On the other hand, you can experiment with and arrange silk flowers weeks in advance. That leaves you plenty of time to relax and pamper yourself in the run up to your wedding!
And yes, you can mix artificial and real flowers with great results. A friend of ours loves ranunculus and wanted them in a mixed bouquet with roses and gerberas. Unfortunately, ranunculus was out of season for her wedding date, and would have cost a lot. So she opted to tuck artificial ranunculus into a fresh bouquet. The results, and the photos, were beautiful.
Anything else you want to add?
Contrary to popular opinion, don’t think that silk flowers are always going to be cheaper than real. Many of the quality ones are as expensive as the real thing — if not more.
Paul Ajao is co-founder of Pure Botanics, located in Coventry, central England, UK. Blake Kritzberg edits FavorIdeas.com. Stop by for garden wedding favors.
